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May 25, 2006
EUREKA SOLDIER DIES: The release of an autopsy
of a 21-year-old soldier from Humboldt County has shined a harsh
light on the Army's treatment of injured service men and women
stationed at a Physical Training and Rehabilitation Program (PTRP)
at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, according to an article in The New
York Times printed May 19.
Pfc. Mathew Scarano, of Eureka, died of a prescription
drug overdose on the night of March 18-19 in his bunk. An autopsy
provided to the Times from Scarano's family concluded
that his death was an accident. At least one fellow soldier,
however, reportedly warned Army physicians that Scarano was abusing
his prescribed pain killer before he died. Scarano was on fentanyl,
a drug far stronger than morphine, for a shoulder injury.
In the Times article, Scarano's mother,
Christine Scarano-Baily of Eureka, says she believes her son's
medical needs were neglected and that the Army is at fault for
his death. The last time she saw him was during Christmas. In
e-mails from Mathew Scarano to the father of a fellow soldier
(which have been posted on michaelmoore.com) Scarano calls himself
"a living symbol of the failure of the system." He
goes on to talk about taking time to study psychology and literature
in his free time. "Such pursuits are my only real escape
from my dismal little reality, other than my medication. (I realize
how the latter sounds but sadly it is true. It is my only real
deliverance from the chronic, piercing and sometimes debilitating
pain in my shoulder.)" According to his e-mail Scarano was
at the rehabilitation program longer than most, spending just
over a year there. He wrote that he had "no faith"
in the Army medical system and that he wanted to have his shoulder
operated upon by a civilian doctor.
The e-mail says that he was told that he would
be disabled for life, but upon completing his own "rudimentary
research" he believed that what he was told by Army doctors
was not true. "I was lied to about surgery," he wrote,
"as were many others, and it was brought to the attention
of the Investigator-General that the medical community had been
telling us that we face courts-martial or severe forms of non-judicial
punishment if we declined the surgery suggested to us by the
doctors here at Fort Sill." Scarano is the second soldier
to die of an accidental overdose at Fort Sill's PTRP since 2004.
— Helen Sanderson
CLEAN IT UP: Larry Glass, owner of The Works
record store in Old Town Eureka and spokesman for Citizens for
Real Economic Growth, on Tuesday released results from a poll
he instigated showing that 61 percent of Eureka voters don't
think a big-box retail complex, as proposed by Rob and Cherie
Arkley, is the best use of the contaminant-soaked, weed-bristling,
former Union Pacific switching and maintenance yard known as
the Balloon Track.
Glass says the telephone survey of "307 likely
voters," conducted on May 10 and 11 by the firm Evans/McDonough,
shows that voters "would much rather build an aquarium or
a park with wetlands on the Balloon Track land." And, according
to the poll, 58 percent of voters want the Balloon Track site
"thoroughly cleaned up before anything is built on the property,"
as opposed to "containing the contaminants on the site by
paving over it." Sixty percent of voters agreed that "stores
like the Home Depot have a direct negative impact on local small
businesses," says Glass.
Glass got the idea for the poll "around about
Christmas-time," he says, following some discouraging waterfront
development meetings, but it took him a while to gather money
and find a firm to conduct it. "I realized this project
was forever going to change the face of the waterfront and of
the city," Glass says. "And yet, the city council was
saying, `No, the city feels this way.' I really believed
the council was mistaken."
But maybe not everyone in city government
has been cheering on the Arkley proposal. On Monday, Eureka Mayor
Peter La Vallee sent out a press statement heralding timely newspaper
accounts of how Union Pacific is rolling in the dough. "The
$35 BILLION railroad company ... has just released financial
statements that show a net profit for the last quarter of $311
MILLION," shouted La Vallee. "That is more than $100
MILLION a month in profit, an increase of 143 [percent] over
the same quarter last year! During the last three months, the
value of their stock has also increased by 46 [percent] ... and
the company added 5,000 new employees."
It is clear, said La Vallee, that the company suffers
"no lack of money to implement a high level cleanup of toxic
waste at the Balloon Track and it is clearly the responsibility
of Union Pacific to do so." But, he said, the City of Eureka
needs to hold U.P.'s feet to the fire, because he, too, has been
hearing from the city's residents that they want a thorough cleanup
of the site. And, judging by the figures, the cost of a cleanup
"to the full extent of technical feasiblity" would
constitute "a mere three days worth of earnings for the
responsible party" — big bucks U.P.
So how about it, city? U.P.? Put those 5,000 new
employees to work in Eureka?
— Heidi Walters
GREEN POWER: For the first time in recent
memory, the election for seats on the local Green Party's steering
committee has become a bitter and heated battle. County election
officials cannot even remember the last time there was any competition
between candidates, let alone one as divisive and emotional as
the current race. The divide stems from conflicting opinions
about where Humboldt's Green Party should stand on Measure T,
which would forbid outside corporations from contributing to
local political campaigns. The measure was put forward by Democracy
Unlimited, a Eureka-based watchdog of corporate behavior that
is often in step with Green Party ideals. But some members of
the current steering committee feel the measure is unconstitutional
and that it is against the values of the Green Party. Others
are very supportive of Measure T and believe that most local
Greens feel the same way. As June 6 approaches, committee consensus
has hardly been reached.
Greg Allen, an incumbent on the steering committee
who is running for re-election, has been vocal in his opposition
to Measure T. He believes that the "slate of seven"
committee candidates who support the measure have "chosen
to divide the Green Party" and are trying "to get a
monopoly on power in Humboldt County." He said that opposition
to his views has turned into personal attacks and that other
candidates are intolerant of dissent within the Green Party.
"It started out with all sorts of defamatory statements,
accusing me of having special interests, of being racist and
against women suffrage the record is clear: These folks don't
tolerate any sort of disagreement with their platform."
Hannah Clapsadle, who works for Democracy Unlimited
and is also running for a seat on the Green steering committee,
believes that Green Party members who oppose Measure T are "definitely"
in the minority. She refutes the notion that she and the rest
of the so-called slate of seven are trying to divide the party.
"We need to be more accessible to the party as a whole,"
she said. "What I'm doing is the opposite of monopolizing
power." She said a lack of participation and a weak infrastructure
are the main issues dividing the party. "Just a few people
have been doing most of the work and steering the party,"
she said. "They are not necessarily representing majority
opinion."
Heidi Calton, another incumbent up for re-election
is not among the slate of seven. But she agrees that party unity
is in the best interest of everyone. "I hope whoever is
elected will have people in mind, and not bring any personal
issues into it," she said.
— Luke T. Johnson
TOP
When bike meets car
Cyclists wonder if maybe we can all just share
the road
story & photo by HEIDI WALTERS
The
subject head on the e-mail that Brian Acord sent to Bigfoot Bicycle
Club members on May 4, at 1:32 p.m., was chilling: "Truck
ends my cycling days."
The day before, at 5:15 p.m., 36-year-old Acord,
a wildlife graduate student who's researching the marbled murrelet,
was riding his bicycle from Humboldt State University to meet
up with his girlfriend, Krysta, who was riding her bike home
from her job in McKinleyville. Acord and his girlfriend often
bike (sometimes she runs) to work and school — and since it
was May, Bike-to-Work Month, they were making an extra effort.
They both had fairly recently gotten the "bike bug"
and had been putting in 100- to 200-mile weeks. On April 30 they
had ridden the Chico Wildflower Century for the first time, and
they were planning to ride in the upcoming Tour of the Unknown
Coast.
Left: Brian Acord shows where a catheter enters
his belly to drain his bladder. A bike crash severed his urethra.
So Acord was riding north in the bike lane on Janes
Road on his way to meet Krysta, and just as he was passing Mad
River Hospital a big gold SUV ahead of him suddenly turned right
into the hospital driveway, cutting him off. He swerved, barely
avoiding getting hit, and slammed into a curb — the bike slammed
into the soft tissue between his legs.
"I turned around and looked at the lady and
what came next left me nearly speechless," Acord recalls.
"She didn't ask if I was OK or anything. She said, `You
should be more careful!'" and added: "`You shouldn't
ride so fast!'"
Acord jimmied his bike into a gear that worked
and rode the two miles home slowly, standing up because it hurt
too much to sit. He figured he was just bruised — no biggie.
At home he consoled himself with chips and salsa, trying to calm
down, and worried about his busted-up bike. "After a few
minutes I noticed my shorts were wet," he says. He went
to the bathroom to change and "blood poured out all over
the floor." He thought it was some minor cut, but once in
the shower he discovered that the blood was coming from his penis
— "a constant stream, not just a little bit of spotting."
His girlfriend arrived and took him back to Mad River Hospital.
There, after an injection and x-rays, a urologist told him his
urethra had been severed.
"The ER doctors were shocked," he says.
"They were all upset that the driver hadn't asked if I was
OK. So they called the police." The police came, made a
report. But nothing's come of it.
Acord spent the night in the hospital, then went
home. Weeks later, he still sports the catheter the urologist
inserted into a hole in his abdomen, just below his navel, to
drain his bladder. It may be several weeks before he's relieved
of it — or even more, if he has to have surgery to clear scar
tissue from his urethra. On a sunny afternoon outside his green
apartment off Alliance Road, the slight, dark-haired Acord lifted
his loose white shirt to reveal the tube taped to the hole in
his belly. With his untucked shirt down, he looks normal. But
he wears his blue jeans unbuttoned — the tube's in the way,
plus it hurts too much to have anything pressing against it.
Ironically, he's wearing what he calls his "fat pants,"
which he grew too slim for months ago after he started riding
his bike and lost nearly 30 pounds. The catheter is hooked to
a tube that snakes down to a bag secured to his left thigh. His
doctor warned him, he said, that he might never have another
erection — but he's optimistic that won't be the case.
Acord's story triggered fury among fellow cyclists,
as they recalled other recent car v. bicycle disasters: In November,
45-year-old cyclist John Dostal was T-boned by a car on Old Arcata
Road near the Indianola Market. The car was at fault. Dostal
suffered five broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a cut clear through
the musculature to his collar bone from his shoulder getting
caught on the roof of the car as he tumbled over it. "My
collar bone isn't sitting well anymore," says Dostal. He
suffers continual pain, and the $40,000-plus hospital and therapy
bills — above and beyond the driver's minimum $15,000 coverage
— have put a strain on his family. "It's been almost worse
than the pain," he says.
In April, after already having been hit by a negligent
car in Hawaii, local cyclist/bike commuter Ken House, 35, who
averages 10,000 miles a year on his bike — usually without mishap
— was struck by a car on Highway 101 as it pulled out from the
Harper Ford dealership without noticing him. His rotator cuff
was torn; the driver was at fault, and House is in a legal battle
with him. (House recently rode 1,200 miles through New Zealand
— there, he says, the only thing he was struck by was how extra-courteous
motorists were toward cyclists.)
And just last Thursday, 26-year-old Kristin Kanaga,
of Arcata, was riding her bicycle through the intersection of
9th and L streets at 5:54 p.m. when she was struck by a car driven
by Carolyn Nelson, 31, of Arcata. Kanaga suffered moderate injuries,
according to the Arcata Police Department. Nelson was arrested,
charged with felony DUI and probation violation, and booked into
Humboldt County jail.
Added to the usual rude beeps, crowding and yells
from irate drivers, and the thousands of close calls every cyclist
can recount, this was all too much. "Is it open season on
cyclists now???" exclaimed one rider in an e-mail.
Well, that depends on where you're riding. According
to the CHP, which compiles incident data from local law enforcement
agencies, in 2004 there were 13 reported bike-car collisions
in Arcata, and the car was at fault in eight of them. In 2005
(the data is not quite for a complete year), there were again
13 bike-car collisions; the car was at fault in nine of them.
In Eureka, it's a different story. Of the 20 bike-car collisions
in Eureka in 2004, 12 were the fault of the bicyclist. Of the
27 car-bike collisions in Eureka reported for most of 2005, 21
were the fault of the cyclist. And in unincorporated Humboldt
County, of the 33 bike-car collisions in 2004 and 2005 combined,
22 were deemed bike-at-fault.
Inside Eureka police headquarters last Friday,
Officer Wayne Cox asked, "You want to see some cool pictures?"
He pointed to several disturbing photos pasted up in his office.
In one, a man is folded upside down in a yoga-like position,
legs over head, underneath a car that's been jacked up so rescuers
can retrieve him. "He was riding the wrong way on a one-way
street, on the sidewalk, and he ran into a car," said Cox.
"He lived. He got cited, too."
Cox said he doesn't mean to imply that all cyclists
are bad — heck, he rides a motorcycle for work every day, he
knows what it's like out there, getting cut off by cars. "But
just drive down to Old Town and you'll see swarms of transient-type
people zig-zagging on bikes, back and forth, going the wrong
way. The large percentage of the bicycling community here has
no regard for the guidelines established in the California Vehicle
Code."
Cyclists worry, however, that in the car-at-fault
accidents, drivers are being let off easy. "We don't feel
like we get the respect that we should for using a legitimate
mode of transportation," says Scott Kelly, president of
the Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association. He says that
after Dostal's wreck on Old Arcata Road, his group invited District
Attorney Paul Gallegos to one of its meetings. Gallegos obliged.
"Gallegos, he was honest with us," Kelly says. "He
told us, basically, unless he has a very strong case that he
feels he can win in a jury trial, he won't prosecute." Most
collisions result in citations for infractions. But Kelly says
even a driver in a collision that killed a touring cyclist —
an ex-cop — on Highway 101 near Fortuna a couple years ago wasn't
charged.
Kelly says it would actually help if more citations
were issued to cyclists blowing through stop signs and breaking
other traffic laws — that, in turn, would improve cyclists'
image. And raising public awareness — something the HBBCA has
worked on for years — goes a long way, too.
Arcata Public Works Director Doby Class says the
city is getting ready to launch a sign campaign, including ones
warning cyclists not to ride against traffic. On hotspots like
G Street, for instance, signs will tell wrong-way riders to head
over to H Street. Signs on Bayside Road, where there's a pedestrian
path, will make clear that cyclists have the right to use the
full car lane. Also, planned widening of Old Arcata Road/Myrtle
Avenue will improve that deadly stretch.
Acord, meanwhile, has been contacting cities with
strong Share-the-Road campaigns: The Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission has a good program (www.share-the-road.org).
So does Marin County (www.malcomfoster.com). On Monday, Acord
attended one of the Humboldt County Association of Governments'
workshops on the county's draft regional transportation plan
to suggest allocating money to a similar education campaign here,
including public service announcements on TV and radio. His comments
were well-received.
Even cyclists who've been banged up would not suggest
people stop riding bicycles. Dostal's riding again, although
he avoids Old Arcata Road now: "It's a great escape for
me, and I like to be healthy," he says. Acord can't wait
(but must) until he can use the new compact crank — good for
steep hills — he'd ordered just an hour before his accident.
House continues to lay down the miles, even though he says he
realizes he's just "a seal in the ocean, and every day I'm
surrounded by hundreds of great white sharks."
Bigfoot Bicycle Club member John Nagiecki, whose
only bike accident was one in New York a couple decades ago that
terminally scuffed his only good suit, says he hopes people will
keep riding. Not only does it alleviate pain from high gasoline
prices, it's good for you. "By and large, cyclists enjoy
excellent health as long as someone doesn't knock them off the
road," Nagiecki says.
TOP
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